SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

BMW M3: an E30 dream becomes reality

18 November, 2015

Most of us can remember when we first became passionate about cars — and certain makes at that. For me, I remember getting a ride as a 10-year-old in a Subaru WRX rally car. I’ll never forget being strapped into that bucket seat, and getting airborne over a local speed bump just near my house, narrowly missing a wandering dog upon landing. Another vivid memory around the same time was a ride in an ’80s Honda Prelude Si, with a DOHC 16-valve two-litre. I will never forget the howl that the factory two-litre motor produced near redline — cementing my passion for the H badge for years to come.

For Gabor Mester, he fell in love with cars whilst at a family friend’s place where he stumbled into a BMW M3 E30 in their garage. Throughout his teens he would go over and offer to wash and clean the vehicle for the owners, just to be around its bulbous ’80s curves. Fast forward a few years, Gabor now owns that particular vehicle — and after seven years of ownership, the passion continues to grow.

The other Q car

12 August, 2026

Say the word ‘bond’ to anyone in the street and around 80 per cent straight away think of pop culture’s least-secret secret agent. The other 20 per cent may think of the wad of cash required to secure a flat or hire equipment that one gets back providing the fixtures and fittings stay much as they were.
However, mention ‘bond’ in specialist classic car circles and people will spin a very different yarn. If you dig deep enough, you will find an eccentric British carmaker that, throughout its 23 years in business, spawned some quirky and charming little cars.
The company was founded by Paul Sharp in 1922 under the name of Sharp’s Commercials Limited. However, the company did not start producing cars until 1948. The first car to carry the Bond name was the Bond Minicar. A three-wheeled, soft-top, two-cylinder eco car, the Minicar was a big hit at the time as the desire for an economical urban runabout that didn’t attract four-wheel car tax was strong in post-war Britain. All in all, 34,285 Minicars were produced over 26 years in a variety of variants.

Lunch with Bill Leckie: An Imp’s tale

6 August, 2026

Seeking limelight is part of Bill Leckie’s DNA, but when I asked him if anyone had written about his career and the cars he created, he didn’t think so. Even so, I was delighted when he agreed to sit down with me over a pie and coffee to reminisce. I started by asking how it is that someone who is so fanatical about F1 only ever raced saloon cars? Well, we’ll get to that, but where did things start? “I went to Cornwall Park Primary School and then to Remuera Intermediate where I became good mates with Geoff Perry, son of the legendary motorcycle racing legend Len.” Geoff Perry was 23 and on the edge of stardom when he was killed in a mystery air disaster over the Pacific in 1973. “We used to race around his backyard on a cutdown motorbike. It was friendly competition that I suppose helped hone our racing instincts. There was never much between us and so, by 11 or 12, I had a definite leaning towards speed.”